“I’m going to leave y’all with one thought, I’m a big believer in fate. I have a good feeling about this.”
So said Ben Crenshaw on the night of September 25, 1999, following play at the Ryder Cup in Brookline, Massachusetts. Most just rolled their eyes at Crenshaw as the U.S.’s hopes were all but dashed after falling behind 10-6 with just Sunday’s singles matches to go. Brookline is 300 miles from Lake Placid, but another miracle was capped when Justin Leonard poured in a 45-foot putt to beat Jose Maria Olazabel and clinch the Cup for the Americans. Actually it didn’t clinch the Cup, Olazabel still had a chance to halve the hole (sort of like we still had to beat Finland to win the gold in Lake Placid.)
Leonard played the hero at Brookline, but today’s hero role goes to Stanislav Petrov, who all but saved the world today in 1983. Petrov was the duty officer on command at a Soviet Nuclear base in Oko, where a computer glich twice reported that the United States had launched missiles at the Soviet Union. Petrov deemed it to be a false alarm, and probably kept the Soviets from launching a retaliatory nuclear attack on the U.S. But Katy Perry’s life story had to be made into a movie first.
Mickey Mantle was flawless on eight chances at shortstop today in 1954. With the Bronx Bombers eight games out, Manager Casey Stengel decided to have a little fun with his lineup. Yogi Berra was also without error on his two grounders at third base.
Machine Gun Kelly was apprehended by the FBI today in 1933, and reportedly yelled “don’t shoot G-Men, don’t shoot G-Men,” a phrase that would stick with the FBI since then. Now this guy looked like a prohibition era gangster:
In other gangster news, “West Side Story” opened on Broadway today in 1957. The play took Romeo and Juliet and set it in NYC’s gangs.
Speaking of gangster, Johnny Appleseed was born today in 1774. No? Okay, speaking of gangster, Olivia Newton-John turns 64 today. Still no? Okay, maybe Olivia didn’t really get physical, but this chick who turns 56 today certainly did.
definitely more gangster than 
Speaking of Olivia Newton-John, wait, were we? Crocodile Dundee opened today in 1986. I’m thinking Linda Hamilton could have kicked his ass.
Lord knows what the Croc man would have thought of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” which opened today in 1975.
Following the two classic, but slower albums, REM wanted to get back to rocking on their next album. They certainly did on “Monster,” released today in 1994. Peter Buck’s opening licks on the opening song showed that REM was back to rocking.
One of the all-time greats passed away today in 2008.
— Bill Hubbell